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spwrozek posted:Shocked he was still around And he still hangs out around the department too. I don't what the guy is on.
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May 18, 2019 04:07
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KetTarma posted:How's that? What made you decide to do that? What downsides do you see? . Beer4TheBeerGod fucked around with this message at 00:50 on Dec 24, 2019 |
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May 18, 2019 05:48
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Oh yeah everyone go get some sleep.
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May 18, 2019 05:51
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Beer4TheBeerGod posted:It's really good. My work is paying for it while allowing me to maintain my salary, so I get all of the benefits of academia without the crippling debt and/or poverty-level pay scale. I just finished my coursework (and grabbed a Masters along the way) and courses were either live with video or pre-recorded. I watched the lectures while taking notes, and worked primarily over e-mail with the professors if I had questions or concerns. Homework was submitted remotely and my exams were proctored at work. Overall it was a great system, at least for my learning style. The downside was definitely the lack of immersion in an academic environment; bladesmithing class aside I had nobody to study with and I genuinely feel that my education slightly suffered for it. I also have the advantage of over a decade of professional experience so things like time management, self-motivation, and improvising were not difficult. It's weird being the same age as my major professor and being able to relate on the same level about having kids or quoting the same lines from Super Troopers because we both saw it as undergrads. How are you writing a dissertation? What's research like being remote? I've been thinking about trying something similar since none of my local schools have anything remotely close to my specialization.
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May 18, 2019 17:15
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Another Mechanical Engineer looking to switch to Software Engineering. I got my BSME in 2009 from NJIT and have 8 years of experience getting punted between 3 small manufacturing companies (no greater than 50 employees or so) in NYC and NJ and only having 2-3 years of experience each. All of my terminations were either the result of either company relocation or my position being made obsolete due to shortfalls of the companies' sales projections. The best standing that I had obtained is a junior-level engineer handling the mechanical design of CNC machines which I was let go from at the end of March. I've been looking for work since April and knew from the start to avoid these small companies and probably get the gently caress out of New Jersey. That said, it's been difficult getting good leads or any kind of attention from large manufacturing or defense companies from not just NJ but also Long Island, lower upstate NY, and eastern PA. It also doesn't help that my professional network is pretty sparse. I'm also not sure I want to stay in Mechanical Engineering. I'm not sure if it's from being burnt out and frustrated from being let go so early and so often or the fact it hardly feels like I'm doing engineering or I'm just getting impatient about not getting the calls or interviews I want. What ever the reason, I haven't felt excited about the job (besides just having one) on the interviews that I've been on and, while the initial plan was to get out of NJ, I've been ambivalent about relocating (even though I don't have anything physically tying me down here besides friends and family) and having a hard time getting excited about I could go on with a whole slew of other issues like how haven't made any advancement with my EIT or how my high functioning autism is making subtle impacts but I should get to the point. My dad works for a defense contractor and has been hounding me for the past few years to work for them. Unfortunately, his particular office has more demand for software engineers than mechanical engineers and he has no pull outside his office. That said, he assures me that he can get me a job as a software engineer so long as I get an applicable degree. Since he's planning on retiring in the next few years, I figure this is the last opportunity I can take advantage of this. And as it turns out, my alma mader has an online graduate course towards a Masters in Computer Science and even has a program to admit non-computing STEM graduates provided they take undergraduate remedial courses. It certainly beats going back for another Bachelors. I think. Again, I could go on with other details and thoughts but I need to cut this short for now. That said, I have until August 1st to get my application in for the Fall semester so I have some time to make a few inquiries and also make completely sure that my dad can deliver on his promise.
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May 19, 2019 01:17
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I'm also an engineer in NJ with a NJIT degree currently working at a mechanical firm (though my degrees are in civil). Some random suggestions: Have you considered switching specialties in your field, as well? There's not many large manufacturing firms around here, and most of the defense contractors around Picatinny and Fort Dix are headquartered in VA and only have small branch offices in NJ, but there's a fair number of multinational pharmaceutical and chemical companies in the area that are looking for process engineers and facilities engineers. Of course, you might not find writing up HVAC maintenance schedules that thrilling. Alternately, have you thought about working directly for the Army? Picatinny has a fair number of NJIT ME alumni working as civilian employees at DEVCOM and ARDEC.
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May 19, 2019 01:47
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Edward IV posted:1. Another Mechanical Engineer looking to switch to Software Engineering. May I suggest if you ask for help gather your thoughts a bit so its easier to follow. Also don't be so hard on yourself. People move jobs, that doesnt make them failures. My resume looks like I hop every 2-3 years because I do and I pitch that in interviews like it is great for them. I numbered my replies since you had a bit of a wall o text there. A few thoughts since I am also a BSME now doing software. 1. Do you like CNC machine design? I love it as a hobby (I did R&D CNC machining for a while and its where my undergrad research was too.) Linux CNC, and many of the open source CNC router/3D printer softwares that are out there, could use your help. Its a chance for you to show you're making accepted contributions on github like a real software engineer and advance the state of open source CNC machining. 2. Post your [anonymized] resume in the resume thread. 3. This is life to some extent. 4. Almost no one cares about this 5. You can request accommodations for your autism and it makes you tremendously harder/requiring more paperwork to fire. 6. A masters in CS certainly puts you firmly in the "I'm a programmer now" camp. That said, outside of the defense industry, doing a software bootcamp is a very common way to make these transitions. The defense industry heavily values degrees, particularly masters degrees. If you're going to get a masters, make a company pay for it. They are expensive.
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May 19, 2019 16:17
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On the point about a CS masters being costly - Georgia Tech offers an online CS masters for a total cost of ~8 grand.
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May 19, 2019 16:49
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Never, ever, get a second bachelors degree (unless youre getting two at the same time.) As far as being a programmer, do you have any idea if youd be good at it? It would also be a big plus if you didnt hate it. If you have CNC experience, i imagine that it should be easier looking at machining engineer roles.
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May 19, 2019 23:32
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KetTarma posted:How are you writing a dissertation? What's research like being remote? In my case I treat it as any other work project, just with a more academic emphasis. I call my major professor once a week.
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May 19, 2019 23:49
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Has anyone ever been in a situation where the manager you were offered is different from the one you actually get upon joining the company? This is super weird right? Also, this talk about just applying to jobs is great and helpful. My advice from my last and upcoming job search would be to setup your linkedin/Indeed/Glassdoor profiles and do all of the easy applies. It will then take a few clicks to apply. Just save the job descriptions so you can research the company/job before the interview. Those were always my 'try new things' interviews.
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May 21, 2019 05:49
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Hotbod Handsomeface posted:Has anyone ever been in a situation where the manager you were offered is different from the one you actually get upon joining the company? This is super weird right?
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May 21, 2019 13:09
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Hotbod Handsomeface posted:Has anyone ever been in a situation where the manager you were offered is different from the one you actually get upon joining the company? This is super weird right? Idk how weird it is but it happened to me with very bad results. EDIT: I've also had it happen at a rapidly growing site of a defense contractor where the hiring manager had a team of 40 direct reports and between when some people were interviewed and some started, 2 manager seats were filled and those 40 divided up. In that situation it wasn't me but the transition was fine. CarForumPoster fucked around with this message at 15:25 on May 21, 2019 |
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May 21, 2019 14:47
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Hotbod Handsomeface posted:Has anyone ever been in a situation where the manager you were offered is different from the one you actually get upon joining the company? This is super weird right? It happened to me. Management turnover is a thing. It definitely made figuring out where I worked a little weird the first day.
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May 21, 2019 14:58
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Thanks for all the responses and I apologize for the poor layout and organization and the time I'm taking to respond. Job searching and soul searching at the same time is time consuming and stressful. I do feel going CS is rash but I'm just considering my options because I literally do not know what to do beyond applying to job postings and going on the few interviews I get. It's quite distressing. More so because I never really had a career plan upon graduation and kind of just fell into these positions but then got let go before I really find my footing. That said, I think I do like the controls and operations aspects of my last job but I can't say for sure if I'm more into the mechanical, electrical, or computer control aspects or some combination of them. The Chairman posted:I'm also an engineer in NJ with a NJIT degree currently working at a mechanical firm (though my degrees are in civil). I am considering facilities and MEP positions but I'm not sure how to approach making my resume suitable for presumably entry-level or junior positions. Especially since many of those positions wants fluency in AutoCAD which I barely touched in undergrad and on the job and bombed a fluency test pretty badly on an interview a few years back. As for government jobs, I have been applying on USAJobs for suitable positions but Beer4TheBeerGod's posts seems to suggest I'm doing my resume wrong or I just need more patience with them since it's been less than 2 months. Either way, it feels like I'm not standing out when applying to larger companies. In fact of the interviews I've had so far, I've only had one that was through an application I submitted. The others have been through recruiters. The issue with the recruiters is that their clients seem to tend to be small and don't have the kind of long term prospects that I'm looking for right now. CarForumPoster posted:May I suggest if you ask for help gather your thoughts a bit so its easier to follow. Also don't be so hard on yourself. People move jobs, that doesnt make them failures. My resume looks like I hop every 2-3 years because I do and I pitch that in interviews like it is great for them. I know that jumping from job to job is a thing but it just doesn't feel natural for me. How you can pitch that in interviews as a benefit for employers is doubly confusing for me. At this point, though, I'm past feeling down about getting let go (I wasn't planning on staying that long) and more concerned about where to go from here. It's the uncertainty of where I'll be next and how long that will last that has me stressed out. Hence why I'm trying to be proactive to improve my opportunities and to distract myself. CarForumPoster posted:A few thoughts since I am also a BSME now doing software. I think so? It's hard for me to say because I've strictly only worked on the physical parts of the machine. That is everything past the servos, solenoids, switches, and sensors are outside of my purview although I can understand the electrical diagrams and concepts well enough. That said, I may be coming to the realization that I'm more interested in the operations and controls of the machines rather than the physics behind it. On a whim, I took a look at some CNC software on github and (combined with a passing knowledge of motor controller schemes) I think I have a decent grasp on what's going on. (At least the stuff that has decent comments) It's still a lot to wrap my head around but it does interest me. I do wish I had some more hands on experience to be certain. Would an Arduino starter kit be a good place to start? I could also stand to be more proactive at the Makerspace I frequent since all I do there is just hang out. CarForumPoster posted:5. You can request accommodations for your autism and it makes you tremendously harder/requiring more paperwork to fire. I definitely want to try to take advantage of this and other benefits and programs as much as I can. Not just for job security but getting jobs that are better suited to my demeanor. While I have gotten this far without ever disclosing and was never terminated directly because of my condition, I may be better off at an employer that is aware of and can accommodate it. At the very least, it wouldn't hurt to do something different that could allow me to be more comfortable with myself. I've already registered with an autism employment assistance program through a family friend and the intake process starts in early June but I have my doubts they'll have many opportunities for mechanical engineers. We'll see where that goes. CarForumPoster posted:6. A masters in CS certainly puts you firmly in the "I'm a programmer now" camp. That said, outside of the defense industry, doing a software bootcamp is a very common way to make these transitions. The defense industry heavily values degrees, particularly masters degrees. If you're going to get a masters, make a company pay for it. They are expensive. Yeah, I had a feeling that it would be a hard shift out of ME which is why I never took up my dad's offer before. While he assures me that it could allow me to transition into robotics, I have my doubts that I would ever pursue that avenue. The only reason I'm even considering CS is because of my dad's offer which requires a degree so a boot camp is not a consideration right now. On the other hand, boot camp can be an option if there are more CS positions through an autism employment assistance program I signed up for. As I mentioned in my last point, this may be the best avenue for me to pursue. Tnuctip posted:Never, ever, get a second bachelors degree (unless youre getting two at the same time.) I do know Visual Basic, Java, and C++ but at a high school and freshman college level. I aced CS-101 not using the curriculum IDE (I had a silly anti-Microsoft sentiment at the time which meant no to Visual Studio) but I didn't do so well with the higher level maths. For the most part, I can read code and have an understanding of data structures and functions but I don't have any experience dealing with complex programs or advanced concepts. As for machining engineering roles, many of the positions I'm finding want other manufacturing techniques like injection moulding, casting, sheet metal drawing, and/or 3D printing instead of or in addition to machining. That isn't to say they don't exist but I'm honestly not sure if I want to go back into the manufacturing field.
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May 21, 2019 21:59
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At my school CS required less math than any engineering degree. I think CS stopped at calc 3 while engineering required diff eq on top of that.
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May 21, 2019 22:43
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I remember in 3rd year comp eng a lot of people realizing they only had to get about 3 more credits to get a Comp Sci degree and taking the easy way out, the cowards!!
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May 21, 2019 22:53
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Asleep Style posted:At my school CS required less math than any engineering degree. I think CS stopped at calc 3 while engineering required diff eq on top of that. I recall CS majors at my school had to take a similar number of total math credit hours as several engineering majors, except instead of courses in differential equations and vector calculus (i.e. differential operators), they had to take courses in stuff like boolean algebra, set theory, combinatorics, that kind of stuff. But they still had to take the 3 calculus courses + vector geometry and linear algebra that all the other engineering majors did.
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May 21, 2019 23:22
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priznat posted:I remember in 3rd year comp eng a lot of people realizing they only had to get about 3 more credits to get a Comp Sci degree and taking the easy way out, the cowards!! It explains the ever growing number of programmers who subscribe to “well, hardware just gets faster, right?” fools
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May 22, 2019 04:45
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movax posted:It explains the ever growing number of programmers who subscribe to “well, hardware just gets faster, right?” Sadly most of the VLSI courses were in 4th year 
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May 22, 2019 08:23
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ok I guess i was bitching about nothing (this was after my second interview) I'm so fuckin happy
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May 24, 2019 02:50
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So I've been working at my current company for 4 1/2 years as an entry level process engineer. I've had smoke blown up my rear end about promotions plenty of times, but I haven't left for varying personal non-work related reasons. I do all the work a full engineer does. Its just that my company dicks people over on promotions. The question about my lack of promotion keeps coming up during job interviews, and I just feel like I've thrown away my career working for these assholes. Anybody ever deal with this sort of situation.
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Jul 4, 2019 18:57
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Yup. This is my biases at play and I know you had reasons and career progression is not necessarily the most important thing to everyone. So that's my disclaimer. In my experience, you've set your career back at least 2 years by not getting the gently caress out once it was clear after 2 years that promotions weren't coming. It's not hopeless but you're going to have to be prepared to explain some reasonable sounding soundbyte on why you didn't leave despite that because the inbuilt assumption is probably that you put up with it because you couldn't do better. You're also going to have to be prepared to get offers that aren't "this guy has 4 years of experience" but "this is this guy's first non-entry-level job". It's not an "end of career" thing but it's a cul-de-sac you need to find your way out of. Basically nobody promotes anymore and there's barely such a thing as raises - get adjusted to the mindset of getting everything you can out of each job as far as experience, skills, training etc then pull the ripcord.
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Jul 4, 2019 19:16
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Xeom posted:So I've been working at my current company for 4 1/2 years as an entry level process engineer. I've had smoke blown up my rear end about promotions plenty of times, but I haven't left for varying personal non-work related reasons. I do all the work a full engineer does. Its just that my company dicks people over on promotions. The question about my lack of promotion keeps coming up during job interviews, and I just feel like I've thrown away my career working for these assholes. Sounds like a good reason to move on, with the lack of career opportunities within the company being a valid reason to leave. Are there younger employees than you who have been promoted? Is the company just bloated with full engineers? Is it possible there's a valid reason they aren't promoting you which could be an opportunity for self improvement?
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Jul 4, 2019 19:16
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If you are in a position to dedicate time to getting another job then do that. I don't know if I would say that you've been set back.You can also just call it a Process Engineer position on your resume and talk about how your responsibilities have actually grown over that time or some interesting or complicated problems you have solved? The only way that that is a setback is if you have been doing bottom tier work for 4.5 years. All of this granted that you have about a year more experience than I do. I've also only been asked about what kinds of things that I do at work and never promotions. It just doesn't come up. Just an aside. I've been having a weird realization over the last several months. I got out of school in 2016 and went straight into customer facing large project consulting stuff. The projects I was on were very destructive for a lot of the engineers involved and it was a hard and very stressful few years. It left me feeling like I had wasted that time and I had to restart my career after 2.5 years with a new company with nothing to show for all of the struggling. Coming out of that into a process engineer role where I am just a system owner at a manufacturing company has been a huge perspective shift. I went from feeling bad about my experiences to feeling like I was in a pretty good spot competency wise when I was actually working around people with my same experience level. I am starting up another job search (want to move back 'home') and once I start explaining my experience I get a lot of really good responses that I wasn't getting when I was applying for the job that I have now last year.
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Jul 4, 2019 22:05
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As a person who hires engineers I can't see why people would be asking about promotions. My line of questioning would be around what you have done and what your goals are. I would just talk about more complicated work and stuff.
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Jul 4, 2019 23:36
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Xeom posted:So I've been working at my current company for 4 1/2 years as an entry level process engineer. I've had smoke blown up my rear end about promotions plenty of times, but I haven't left for varying personal non-work related reasons. I do all the work a full engineer does. Its just that my company dicks people over on promotions. The question about my lack of promotion keeps coming up during job interviews, and I just feel like I've thrown away my career working for these assholes.
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Jul 5, 2019 02:45
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Beer4TheBeerGod posted:Sounds like a good reason to move on, with the lack of career opportunities within the company being a valid reason to leave. Are there younger employees than you who have been promoted? Is the company just bloated with full engineers? Always room to improve; however, in my group nobody has ever been promoted since we had a re-org 2+ years ago. About 3 of us are over do for a promotion. Had a guy who only ever received great performance reviews just leave with no counter offer. There are no clear goals to hit. You are never told exactly what you need to do for a promotion. Just keep doing what your doing and "it will come". I feel really stupid for staying as long as I have. I just kept believe all the bullshit my boss was feeding me, and I had a lot of personal poo poo going on. spwrozek posted:As a person who hires engineers I can't see why people would be asking about promotions. My line of questioning would be around what you have done and what your goals are. I would just talk about more complicated work and stuff. This is good to hear. I've only had one person ask me so far and it has really freaked me out.
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Jul 5, 2019 02:46
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Hey thread I did it. I'm graduating with a master's degree in mechanical engineering with first class honours. Feels pretty good right now.
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Jul 5, 2019 09:35
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Granted I'm government but I've never asked or thought to ask about promotions when I've interviewed people. Partly because we're limited on what we are allowed to ask but also because I just assume people want something different or have some reason for leaving where they are. I think transfers are where we get a little more questioning because we're trying to figure out if you're escaping or being jettisoned as our office is in a very high COL area and the salary doesn't change. I know engineers who've left for the outside private world because they are traitors, dead to us, and I don't think they were asked about promotions either, although I'm not sure how "up" they can step from where they were.
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Jul 13, 2019 07:43
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Zachack posted:because they are traitors, dead to us I would love to hear you elaborate on this.
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Jul 13, 2019 16:41
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spwrozek posted:I would love to hear you elaborate on this. Engineers who leave the public sector for the higher pay of the private sector are dirty filthy greedy traitors. What else is there to say?
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Jul 13, 2019 17:04
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I was hoping for a much better story. What I tell every engineer in my 1 on 1's is "where do you want to go and how can I help you get there". I would rather they stay or at least move within the company but I want them to be happy and I don't begrudge a single one if they move on.
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Jul 13, 2019 17:33
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spwrozek posted:I was hoping for a much better story. What I tell every engineer in my 1 on 1's is "where do you want to go and how can I help you get there". I would rather they stay or at least move within the company but I want them to be happy and I don't begrudge a single one if they move on. I'd like to be able to come in and see us doing "better". Perform better, work smarter, not have to work so hard or so long hours. To not be treated like poo poo. To have the camraderie of a tight knit team. To just learn what you're supposed to do at work takes about a year. To really learn the ins and out 3 to 5 years. Ideally what takes me 5 years to figure out, I can teach someone in 2 years. Unfortunately it does not seem to happen. Maybe I should just stop giving a drat... but every day I go in to work it is evident to me that we need to raise the bar...
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Jul 19, 2019 05:31
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My question was to the guy who called people who left traitors and dead to us. People move on I don't get how that makes them those things.
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Jul 21, 2019 21:47
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Only bad people leave (barring retirement*), unless I don't like them, in which case it is simply nature taking its course. Also we have a semi-antagonistic relationship with the outside world so when I have to meet with them they will bring apple fritters and throw them in the bushes to confuse and distract me. *I lied they are also bad for reminding me that I don't get to retire yet.
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Jul 26, 2019 07:03
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Zachack posted:Also we have a semi-antagonistic relationship with the outside world so when I have to meet with them they will bring apple fritters and throw them in the bushes to confuse and distract me. Lol, this is pretty funny. I am going to suggest this to the consultants I hire. Distraction fritters.
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Jul 26, 2019 14:48
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Would working as a building/housing inspector for a city count as experience for the PE?
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Nov 10, 2019 05:51
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Eskaton posted:Would working as a building/housing inspector for a city count as experience for the PE? Probably not. You generally need to be working for a PE, doing engineering work. https://www.nspe.org/resources/licensure/resources/demonstrating-qualifying-engineering-experience-licensure
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Nov 10, 2019 06:25
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Eskaton posted:Would working as a building/housing inspector for a city count as experience for the PE? Possible if you work under a PE. You wouldn't be doing design but reviewing drawings and construction. If you don't have someone who can vouch for you though you are SOL.
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Nov 10, 2019 06:45
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